Asian Fairy Bluebird

ODKF - The Jewel of Konkan

ODKF, The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) also known as the Black-backed Kingfisher or Three-toed Kingfisher is a species of bird in the Alcedinidae family. This is a small, red and yellow kingfisher, averaging 13 cm (5.1 in) in length, yellow underparts with glowing bluish-black upperparts. This is a widespread resident of lowland forest, endemic across much of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The preferred habitat is small streams in densely shaded forests. In the Konkan region of southwest India, it begins to breed with the onset of the Southwest Monsoon in June. The nest is a horizontal tunnel up to a metre in length. The clutch of 4-5 eggs hatches in 9-10 days with both the male and female incubating. The birds fledge after another 9 days and a second brood may be raised if the first fails. The young are fed with geckos, skinks, crabs, snails, frogs, crickets and dragonflies.
Known as the "Jewel of Konkan" as it nests in that region and the sighting is good after the first south west monsoon showers. One needs to travel all the way to the western ghats to capture this tiny jewel and it requires loads of patience and perseverance. We used to wait there from 8AM to 6PM inside our hide with pounding rain, dark clouds and low light conditions. But end of the day, a glimpse of this rainbow coloured beauty would refill our energy levels and make the entire experience very sweet :)

Blue Eared Kingfisher

Paradise Fly-Catcher

Very fortunate to get this beauty up close and in a clean perch.. It was clicked handheld and due to the shade on the branch the shutter dropped to 1/80 - Did not have the time to change any settings then but held by breath to avoid any shake.. was also praying to get atleast one frame in focus :)

Malabar Grey Hornbill

Indian Scimitar Babbler

A dream bird - In my many years of going to Ganeshgudi, got lucky this time with this extremely shy bird, finally !!.. This guy came and sat in the open for a few seconds right in front for a near full frame shot. I wish it did that before taking the dip, but hey, iam not complaining atall :)

Collared Kingfisher

Black-Capped Kingfisher

Finally - All the hard work and patience paid off. It was intense test of patience as we had to move very slowly without any movement or noise.. This guy is otherwise very skittish and moves off at the slightest of noise..

Malabar Trogon, Male

Common Kingfisher (Common Blue)

Lucky to have got this species (one of my fav) so close and in perfect conditions (Nice light, gerat perch, awesome BG etc., etc).. It was a special moment and opportunity as this guys usually does not let you venture so close... I felt blessed :)

Laggar Falcon

Enjoying a hard earned breakfast made of a Spiny-Tailed Lizard. The open ground outside the Tal-Chapar sanctuary is the place where these lizards are found in huge numbers and these raptors feed on them.

Painted Bunting, Male

Indian Pitta

Patience paid off, waited for over an hour and finally this guy perched very close to our vehicle and allowed me to make a few images from close distance.The Indian Pitta is a small stubby-tailed bird that is mostly seen on the floor of forests or under dense undergrowth, foraging on insects in leaf litter. It has long, strong legs, a very short tail and stout bill, with a buff coloured crown stripe, black coronal stripes, a thick black eye stripe and white throat and neck. The upperparts are green, with a blue tail, the underparts buff, with bright red on the lower belly and vent...

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Indian Openbill

A small break in between a busy morning of nest building.. It was great fun to see them collect nesting material, wash them in water, fly out to carefully lay the material and also take some break to drink water.

Spot-Billed Pelican

Sarus Crane

Worked hard and searched for these beauties for 2 full days.. Finally got them on day 2 evening in the tall grass. They are usually there because of the small chic and this is the best view I could manage..

Spot-Billed Pelican

Emerald Dove

Grey Headed Fish Eagle

Scaly-Breasted Munia

It was amazing to see them spent nearly all day in collecting nesting material. This gave me some predictability and choice of spot for some closeup pics.. It still took me over two hours of waiting but was lucky in the end, I guess.

Spot Billed Pelican

Indian River Tern Fledgling

Montagu's Harrier, Female

Waited a while for a possible take-off shot. She obliged by taking off into the frame and not away from it.. One needs luck and patience to get these; you need to stay glued to your camera's eye piece for a long time and the bird may fly in a different direction giving you a frame you dont like..
These harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding only the Americas.

Magpie Robin

Blue-bearded Bee-eater

The Blue-bearded Bee-eater Nyctyornis athertoni is a large species of bee-eater found in South Asia. This species is found in openings in patches of dense forest. It is found in the Malayan region and also extends into the Western Ghats in southwestern India. The blue feathers of its throat are elongated and often held fluffed up giving it the name
This large bee-eater has a large sickle shaped bill and the square ended tail lacks the "wires" that are typical of smaller bee-eaters. The bird is grass green with a turquoise forehead, face and chin. The feathers of the throat are elongated giving it a bearded appearance when they are fluffed out. The belly is yellowish to olive with streaks of green or blue. The peninsular Indian populations are said to be paler green than the northeast Indian populations. Although males and females appear similar, the blue throat feathers of the male show higher ultraviolet reflectivity than those of the female (Wiki).

Bay Backed Shrike

Rufous Treepie

The Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) is an Asian treepie, a member of the Corvidae (crow) family. It is long tailed and has loud musical calls making it very conspicuous. It is found commonly in open scrub, agricultural areas, forests as well as urban gardens. Like other corvids it is very adaptable, omnivorous and opportunistic in feeding.

This is a typically arboreal species feeding almost completely in trees on fruits, seeds, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds; it has also been known to take flesh from recently killed carcasses. It is extremely agile while searching for food, clinging and clambering through the branches and will sometimes travel in small mixed hunting parties with unrelated species such as drongos and babblers. It has been observed feeding on parasites of wild deer. Like many other corvids they are known to cache food. They have been considered to be beneficial to palm cultivation in southern India due to their foraging on the grubs of the destructive weevil (Wiki).

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

The Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family. This is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia. They are blue on the upperparts and the throat and breast are rufous. They are found in dense scrub to forest habitats.

Coucal

The Greater Coucal or Crow Pheasant (Centropus sinensis) is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in Asia, from India, east to south China and Indonesia, it is divided into several subspecies, some being treated as full species. They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. They are weak fliers, and are often seen clambering about in vegetation or walking on the ground as they forage for insects, eggs and nestlings of other birds. They have a familiar deep resonant call which is associated with omens in many parts of its range.
This is a large species of cuckoo at 48 cm. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red. Juveniles are duller black with spots on the crown and there are whitish bars on the underside and tail (Wiki).

Purple Sunbird, Female

Malabar Whistling Thrush

The Malabar Whistling Thrush ( Myophonus horsfieldii) is a whistling thrush in the thrush family Turdidae. They are also known locally by the name of Whistling Schoolboy for the whistling calls that they make at dawn that have a very human quality. The species is a resident in the Western Ghats and associated hills of peninsular India including central India and parts of the Eastern Ghats (Wiki). This was clicked at BR Hills main road.

Racket Tailed Drongo

Racket-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus paradiseus, is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dicruridae. They are conspicuous in the forest habitats often perching in the open and by attracting attention with a wide range of loud calls that include perfect imitations of many other birds. It has been suggested that these imitations may help in the formation of mixed-species foraging flocks, a feature seen in forest bird communities where many insect feeders forage together. These drongos will sometimes steal insect prey caught or disturbed by other foragers in the flock. They are diurnal but are active well before dawn and late at dusk.

In most of its range in Asia, this is the largest of the drongo species and is readily identifiable by the distinctive tail rackets and the crest of curled feather that begin in front of the face above the beak and along the crown to varying extents according to the subspecies. The tail with twirled rackets is distinctive and in flight it can appear as if two large bees were chasing a black bird (Wiki).

Serpent Eagle

Montagu Harrier (Male)

Asian Fairy Bluebird, Female

Found her outside the BRHills forest entry gate on a wet morning. It was my first sighting of this bird and she gave just about enough time for a couple of clicks....
The Asian Fairy-bluebird, Irena puella, is a medium-sized, arboreal passerine bird.
This fairy-bluebird is found in forests across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayan foothills, India and Sri Lanka east through Indochina, the Greater Sundas and Palawan (Philippines). Two or three eggs are laid in a small cup nest in a tree. It was described by British ornithologist John Latham in 1790. The only other member of the genus and family is the Philippine Fairy-bluebird, I. cyanogastra, which replaces the Asian Fairy-bluebird in most of the Philippines.
The adult Asian Fairy Bluebird is about 24 to 27 centimetres (9.4 to 11 in). The male has glossy, iridescent blue upperparts, and black underparts and flight feathers. The female and first year male are entirely dull blue-green.
The Asian Fairy Bluebird eats fruit, nectar and some insects. Its call is a liquid two note glue-it (Wiki).

Stork Billed Kingfisher

Blue cap Rock Thrush

The Blue-capped Rock Thrush Monticola cinclorhynchus is a species of chat. This thrush-like Old World flycatcher breeds in the foothills of the Himalayas and winters in the hill forests of southern India.
The male is bright blue and black on the upperparts with a prominent white wing mirror. The underside is rufous brown. The female is dark olive and appears barred on the underside.
Like thrushes´, they fly up into trees and tend to freeze when disturbed.
It is a summer visitor in parts of Afghanistan and along the Himalayas from Pakistan to Arunachal Pradesh. In summer it is found in pine forests and hill slopes. In winter it is found in dense canopied forests (wiki).

Adjutant Stork

Brown Headed Barbett

Grey Heron with a snake kill

Common Sandpiper

Jungle Babbler

Noisiest birds in the jungle and everywhere else - They seem to be perpetually shrieking - fighting each other, broadcasting gossip around town or generally feeling good to be with each other. Also known as 'seven sisters' (and quite appropriately some would say), these forage in groups for insects, ants/ termites.

India's National Bird.

Painted Spur Fowl

Malabar Trogon, Male

Was in Goa for the Diwali weekend and the only species in mind was the Trogan - got up early both days to drive over 100Kms to get to Bondlla WLS. It was tough to trek with the heavy lens and tripod and wait for hours in this hot and humid conditions. Patience paid off and got this guy on a clean perch on day 2 of my trip. The male is usually very shy and I think we were lucky to get this moment though it was backlit and a bit high on the perch. Getting both female and male over this weekend is memorable and surely made my Diwali very colurful and noise free :)

Common Hawk Cuckoo

Dream Koel

Asian Koel Female on a dream perch.
Title as suggested by Sai Adikarla
The Asian Koel is a large, long-tailed, cuckoo at 45 cm. Though a very common bird, they are often heard than seen and are very shy.
The male of the nominate race is glossy bluish-black, with a pale green or grey bill, the iris is crimson, and it has grey legs and feet.
The female of the nominate race is brownish on the crown and has rufous streaks on the head. The back, rump and wing coverts are dark brown with white and buff spots. The underparts are whitish, but is heavily striped.
They are very vocal during the breeding season (March to August in South Asia), with a range of different calls. The familiar song of the male is a repeated koo-Ooo. The female makes a shrill kik-kik-kik... call. Calls vary across populations.

Indian Cuckoo

Very elusive as they normally perch very high on the tree and calls from there making it very difficult to spot them. This one gave me a sighting for a few seconds when it came down sheepishly to the water hole to quench its thirst and then sat on the fallen tree for 3-4 seconds.
I love the call of these beauties as it sounds like "One More Bottle".... "One More Bottle"... which by the way is the ringtone on my phone ... LOL

Great Tit

Nilgiri Laughing Thrush

Nilgiri Laughing Thrush, OOTY
Went back the next day and spent two hours despite overcast conditions and poor light. The activity was also less, but this guy came once and perched at a place I was hoping it would

Indian Blue Robin

Golden Fronted LEafbird

I have been going to Ganeshgudi for many years and this is probably the first time I saw it come down to perch near the bird bath. Though it sat there only for a few seconds, it was enough to make this frame.

Eastern Imperial Eagle

LRK Sunset

Steppe Eagle

I was lying on the ground and slowly crawling up to get a nice portrait pic of the Eagle.. At one point when It was standing and side ways to me, i tried hurrying up a bit and the noise got the birds attention - I was thinking oh god it will fly away now, but to my surprise it sat down like a duck facing me.. Could not have asked for a better pose :)

Peregrine Falcon

Grey Headed Bulbul

Mottled Wood Owl

Yellow Crowned Woodpecker

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker or Maratha Woodpecker– (Dendrocopos mahrattensis) is called Marartha WP because it was first described from this region of South Maharashtra in Central India, and may also be because the red crown of the male resembles the Red “turban” of the Maratha warriors.